Toke Signals Stories of the Week

Four men have been beheaded by sword after being convicted of smuggling marijuana into Saudri Arabia, the interior ministry announced on Monday.

The government-run SPA news organization identified the Saudi men as two sets of brothers, Hadi and Awad al-Motleq, and Mufarraj and Ali al-Yami, reports Malta Today.

The four men were beheaded at Najran, a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia, after they were found guilty of smuggling “a large quantity of hashish” into the country. The government didn’t say when the executions took place.

You’d think voting on a public policy initiative wouldn’t require tax money to advocate one side or the other; after all, the voters are supposed to be able to decide for themselves on questions like cannabis legalization, without having to fund the “no” sign of things. But a taxpayer-funded tour will usher notorious anti-pot zealot Kevin Sabet on a 13-city tour around the state, reports Kate Willson at Willamette Week.

Sabet, on his taxpayer-funded tour, will be spreading ridiculous “reefer madness” myths and outright lies about cannabis around Oregon. Do you feel as if you’re getting your money’s worth, Oregon taxpayers?

Connecticut’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened on Wednesday night in South Windsor, and the state’s other five dispensaries reportedly won’t be far behind.

The grand opening of Prime Wellness of Connecticut gave potential patients and the public a chance to see the facilities, meet pharmacists and growers, and get information, reports Amanda Cuda at Ctpost.com. There’s just one thing, though: The dispensary won’t have any actual marijuana until next month, though staff members have been consulting with patients since last week, according to Director of Operations Brett Sicklick.

“I think people have been really shocked and surprised when the enter the facility for the first time,” Sicklick said. “We really took as much of a medical approach as we possibly could.”

A bicycle officer who was briefly reassigned after it was discovered he had personally written 80 percent of the tickets for public marijuana use issued in the city this year has returned to his regular job, the Seattle Police Department announced Monday afternoon.

Police claim they’re still investigating the conduct of Officer Randy Jokela, who has been with the force 24 years and who seems to be having real trouble adjusting to the implementation of I-502, the limited marijuana legalization measure approved by Washington state voters in 2012.

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole and Pierce Murphy, director of the SPD’s Office of Professional Accountability, “conferred and ultimately decided that there was nothing that precludes this employee from returning to his normal duties,” according to department spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb.

For almost six weeks now, Seattle’s lone recreational marijuana store, Cannabis City, has struggling to stay open, repeatedly running out of legal cannabis priced around $25 a gram. Now, a second pot store, Herbal Nation, has finally opened in the Emerald City.

The new state-licensed marijuana store, at 19302 Bothell Everett Highway in Seattle, held its grand opening on Monday, and staff said they believe they have enough weed to stay open seven days a week, reports Jake Ellison at the Seattle PI.

“Judging by the initial line at opening, there will be plenty of folks trying to run ’em dry,” Ellison reports.

The South Portland City Council on Monday voted unanimously to place a measure on the November ballot that would make private marijuana possession legal for adults within city limits.

Citizens for a Safer Maine collected more than 1,500 signatures to get the measure in front of the council, which had the options of adopting it or placing it on the ballot. Just 959 valid signatures of registered city voters were required. A similar measure has qualified for the ballot in Lewiston, and Citizens for a Safer Maine is in the process of collecting the final signatures needed to place one on the ballot in York.

The South Portland initiative would make it legal for adults 21 years of age and older to privately possess up to one ounce of marijuana. It would remain illegal to consume or display marijuana in public. The measure also includes a statement in support of regulating and taxing marijuana like alcohol at the state level.

The Santa Fe City Clerk on Monday announced the Reducing Marijuana Penalties Campaign submitted enough valid signatures to qualify for the city’s citizen initiative process setting the stage to give voters in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a vote on reducing marijuana penalties.

The Reducing Marijuana Penalties Campaign, headed by Drug Policy Action and ProgressNow NM, submitted close to 11,000 signatures in 52 days, more than twice the number needed to qualify for the ballot. The initiative now goes before the City Council where the governing body has two options, vote for the ordinance change outright or send the initiative to the people for a vote.

Not only will this be the first time in history that New Mexico’s voters will cast their ballots on reforming marijuana laws, it is the first time that the people of Santa Fe brought forth an issue via the City’s citizen initiative process. The Santa Fe city charter permits voters to petition their government for changes to city ordinances, including those relating to marijuana.

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